MLK Event 1/17 w/ interpreter will stream online...Sheila's latest writing project...Thanks CAD for their advocacy on behalf of deaf children....
Happy New Year!    
green-blue-balloons.jpg
green-blue-balloons.jpg

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday and are excited about the new year and all that it might bring.   

I want to give you another chance to look over the article that my Deaf sister Lisa Jacobs and I co-authored, our first professional publication, in Spring 2015:  The Secrets to Deaf and Hearing Siblings Success: Giving them an Early Start for a Lifetime Together.   

We were excited to put into words our  50 plus years of being successful deaf and hearing sisters. We hope you might share the secrets of our success with our new generation of deaf students and their hearing sisters and brothers.

And with hearing parents who are struggling to support their deaf children AND their hearing children.  "Double Pride approaches" to communicating successfully can be used throughout all the stages of their lives as deaf and hearing sisters and brothers.
 
I have been a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist for 30 years specializing in Deaf and hearing families. We work on ways to have more "Double Pride" family relationships in which both deaf and hearing family members can have pride in both their Deaf and Hearing worlds as bicultural individuals.

I know you all are a part of this "Double Pride Community" where we can feel  good about ourselves in both our Deaf and Hearing worlds, worlds which intersect in our families at the dinner table, and how we live, how we joke around, and how we share and grow TOGETHER successfully-"hand in hand".  
 
Warm Regards,
Sheila Jacobs, Double Pride  
magic_stars_book.jpg

sunrise_over_ocean.jpg
On the horizon...
I'm working on the first draft of my memoir:
Sign Language is My Mother Tongue !   The book is about my life as the first Hearing member in 3 generations of Deaf relatives and my life growing up as the "Family Interpreter", sharing my voice and hearing with my Deaf family. How I struggled to find my "own voice" and to listen to how Hearing people talk and share as compared to my Deaf family and the Deaf Community. 

As I write this book, I often think of my father Leo Jacobs
who  was a wonderful leader in the Deaf community and a great role model for me.  His book A Deaf Adult Speaks Out is available at   
Building the Beloved Community -  A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King's Life
 Sunday January 17 from 7 to 9:30 pm  

If you can't attend, the interpreted Celebration can be viewed online on January 17 and after! 
Go to  Scroll down till you see
 the "Live Stream" window.
  This event is brought about by my dear friend  Christy Michaels' amazing work building a  "Beloved Community" which is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's way of describing his Dream!

Sign Language Interpreter will be Brenda Lyons. Brenda's twin sister is Deaf! She and I were both co-chairs along with David Fair for the Deaf and Hearing Siblings Retreats. 
 

I attended this event last year with my Zambian Deaf friend Francis Phiri, former Student Body President of Ohlone College in Fremont CA. He's in the green shirt in the photo. 
We were excited to hear "Black Lives Matter Panel" was was part of the event which made national news.
Deaf Child's Language Equality and Acquisition Milestones Law 

We want to applaud California Deaf Leaders and the California Association of the Deaf -  President, Julie Rems Smario and her Board -  for spearheading their unity of purpose by sponsoring
new legislation -    CA - SB 210  -  which passed the CA Legislature and was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in October 2015!

This legislation provides language acquisition milestones in both ASL and English for deaf children ages 0-5.  The new law will ensure that our new generation of deaf children meet successful standards of communication and are truly Kindergarten ready at age 5. California became the first state to pass a language milestones law for Deaf children from birth to age 5 and is a wonderful example for other states to follow.
 
kids_classroom_hands.jpg
Congratulations to all you amazing Deaf Leaders in California who really demonstrated what is possible when we can create this kind of "Beloved Community"!
Congratulations to Nyle DiMarco for winning the last season of American's Next Top Model. He is our newest Deaf role model on television! Best of luck to him as he launches his modeling and acting career!  

It's so great how Nyle - 4th generation Deaf -  has helped America learn about how one Deaf man from a large Deaf family and how to lead by example.   We are so proud of you, Nyle, and so glad to see America listening to you.